Hey-Nay

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HAMBURGER MACARONI

Hamburger_macaroni

BACKSTORY

My elementary school had a cafeteria where lunches were made from scratch by a lady named Mrs. Fo (pronounced F-oh) and her staff. There were dishes she made that I loved and then there were others that I was forced to eat because the teachers watched us.
 
If we didn’t eat enough of our food and tried to escape, they would turn us back around and insist we not waste food. There was a table by the exit were all the kids who didn’t eat enough would be seated because they got caught. On the days I loved the food, I would look back and feel bad for the kids sitting there.
 
I remember vividly choking down food by drinking my milk with it to mask the taste. Sounds so ridiculous now but that trick worked. Another thing I remember was I hated milk but the only way you could get juice was with a Doctors note and I most definitely didn’t have one of those.
 
One of the dishes I didn’t love in elementary was called Hamburger Macaroni. I don’t exactly know why I disliked it to be honest. Ironically, I love the heck out of it now. I remember learning a trick from my friend Eric B, he would stuff the food in his milk carton when the teacher wasn’t looking. I took that trick and ran with it. Every time we had Hamburger Macaroni half of mine went into my milk carton because they didn’t check how much milk you drank. Ahhh to be young and rascal again.
 

FAST FORWARD

 
Anyhow, as I got older and started cooking for my family, I started to make lists of things my kids might like to eat. I pulled that Hamburger Macaroni dish from my memories and tested it out on them. Kids love Mac n Cheese. Why wouldn’t they love this? Which i’m guessing is what Mrs. Fo thought as well.
 
Surprisingly all of my kids loved it growing up over a mound of rice because rice is a staple in our home. As young adults, they tolerate it and roll their eyes when they see what’s on the menu. I can only get away with making this once a month or else my hubby and I are the only ones eating it.
 
It’s one of my favorite Lazy Girl dishes because it’s easy and nostalgic. Do you have foods from your childhood that you hated then but love now? This is mine & here’s the recipe below:
 
xo
 
 
 
Hamburger_macaroni
Print Recipe

Hamburger Macaroni

Ingredients

  • 1 tray of ground beef
  • 1 box of Mac n Cheese any brand
  • 1 small can of tomato sauce
  • 1 T garlic salt
  • 1 T onion powder
  • S & P to taste

Instructions

  • Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil
  • Prepare the macaroni according to directions on the box
  • Reserve the cheese packet on the side
  • When macaroni is done, strain and set aside
  • In the same pot you boiled the macaroni in, brown the ground beef
  • Season with garlic salt, onion powder and salt & pepper
  • When ground beef is browned add the cooked macaroni, sauce packet and tomato sauce
  • Simmer 5 minutes
  • Serve over rice, rolls or a salad
 

HOW TO CARE FOR HARDWOOD FLOORS

hardwood floor products

MY EASY PEASY FLOOR CARE SYSTEM 

It’s been roughly 2 years since we installed dark hardwood floors throughout the downstairs in our current home. Our previous home had lighter wood floors. I love the dark wood but it’s a little tricky to maintain. Everything shows against the dark wood, so daily maintenance is a must. When we first got them, the installers suggested products to use but after 6 months, those same products dulled my floors.
 
I reached out to my followers on snapchat and got many suggestions. I tried them all and narrowed it down to ones that I found work for me and my floors.
 

ROOMBA = SANITY

 
Instead of sweeping, I ROOMBA. No not as in a dance but as in a vacuum. I’m super Lazy and prefer things that take minimal effort with maximum results, hence the Roomba 890. Roomba has many models but this one happened to be on sale in 2017 and was a Christmas gift from my mom. I’ve programmed it on my phone to run twice a day, mid-morning and at 5pm. It’s great for topical vacuuming but more importantly my sanity. After dinner & dishes I run a smaller stick vacuum before I mop. This one is ridiculously cheap but works like a charm.
 
Once a week I do a deeper vacuum, both on my hardwoods and carpet. I’m not on a strict schedule with vacuuming but if I had to guess, I think it usually happens midweek.
 

MOPPING

 
My friend Tiff, known for her great Christmas Crack recipe, suggested the Reveal mop. I use Bruce’s floor cleaning solution in the bottle. I’ve found Bruces to be best at cleaning the hardwoods, quick at drying and doesn’t leave streaks. Bruce’s also doesn’t dull the floor.
 

GLOSSY BOSSY

 

One a month I use Orange Glo 4 in 1 floor solution straight out of the bottle to give my floors that extra shine. I use a new reveal cloth pad & simply squirt the Orange Glo straight onto the floor and mop over it with my reveal. I find dark woods look much better high glossed. Reviving that high gloss is super simple and the dark wood looks like a boss when done.
 
Here’s my floor care routine in a nutshell:
 
Daily:
 
  1. I run my Roomba which we lovingly named “Alfred”.
  2. Nightly after dinner, I quick vacuum the wood areas then mop with my Reveal mop w/ Bruce’s floor cleaning solution.
 
Weekly:
 
  1. I vacuum my floors both hardwood and carpets with my Miele vacuum.
 
Monthly:
 
  1. After vacuuming and mopping the hardwoods thoroughly, I shine my floor Orange Glo.

 
I try to keep my systems for home chores easy because there are tons of  other things I’d rather be doing then constantly cleaning.
If you have any simple cleaning tips or great floor products you use, please share them with me in the comments below.
 
xo

19th HOLE ENERGY BARS

19th hole energy bars

THE BACKSTORY 

Let me share with you a little story with you about my very first energy bars.  When I was in elementary, my paternal grandma use to pick me up from school. We’d often end up at the 19th hole which is a golfers term for the clubhouse. The clubhouse was where my grams and her lady friends would hang out after their round. They would eat, drink and talk story. My grams was a scratch golfer and she belonged to the Makalena woman’s club that met at least once a week. In Hawaii when you meet older people, out of respect, they automatically become your aunty or uncle.
 
I had a lot of aunties at the 19th hole.
 
I’m pretty sure my grams would just be finished with her round of golf, run by to pick me up from school then we’d head back to the 19th hole. This is where I would do my homework, ate whatever snacks I wanted and load up on sugary soda. This is where I learned about Energy bars.
 
One of my golf aunties would carry energy bars in her golf bag to keep her satiated during her round. There was this one time when she shared one of them with me and that was all it took. From that point on, my grams would pay that aunty to make these energy bars for me.
 

PRESENT DAY 

When the Air Force PCS’d us from Hawaii, I would call my grams for recipes because I missed the food. To put it into context, this was back when email had just started. My grams wasn’t great at technology but she knew how to email. She got the recipe for the energy bars that I loved so much as a child and emailed it to me. She told me I would need the energy I got from eating these bars to keep up with my 3 kids.
 
Over the years, she would email me other recipes which I’ll be sharing in the near future. My grams passed away in 2004 after complications from heart surgery. She was 75.
 
A few years ago, when cleaning out my email, I found the recipes she sent.  I got so choked up, I could hardly read them. I printed out the emails and lovingly put them in my recipe binder. I now make these energy bars for my own kids and have added a few healthy elements to them. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
 
xo

 

 

Print Recipe

19th HOLE ENERGY BARS

Ingredients

  • 1/2 stick of butter
  • 1 bag of mini marshmallows
  • 2 cups of rice crispy cereal
  • 1 cup quick cook oats
  • 1/2 cup of peanut butter or almond butter
  • 1/4 cup chia seeds
  • 1/4 cup flax seeds
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seeds de-shelled
  • 1/4 cup cranberries

Instructions

  • Grease 9x13 pan
  • In a pot on low heat - melt butter, marshmallow and peanut butter
  • When first 3 ingredients are melted, add the remaining ingredients & mix thoroughly
  • Transfer mixture to greased pan and pat till level
  • Allow to cool 15-20 minutes
  • Cut into squares and wrap in waxed paper
 

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